


why must I create a title is it not enough to simply write

by axolotl119



Series: Hades College AU [4]
Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Mention of Seizures, haha I remember tags now fun fun, hyonos pulls out the avoidance tactics, it takes them like 1600 words to talk to each other, mentions of hospitals and injury and almost death, zag gets hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-15 17:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28567488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/axolotl119/pseuds/axolotl119
Summary: Zag doesn’t take care of himself very well. This has more repercussions than he thought it would.
Relationships: Hypnos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Series: Hades College AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2093121
Comments: 4
Kudos: 110





	why must I create a title is it not enough to simply write

**Author's Note:**

> other end of the spectrum. I don’t write a lot of angst anymore because I’m not as good as it as I used to be but here we have this. hope y’all enjoy. comments kudos feed the little writer inside my skull.

There was a four letter word that rhymed with “shove” that Zagreus would’ve been happier not associating with Hypnos echoing inside the former’s brain as he lay awake. He turned to look at the clock. 4:28 AM. He turned to his wall and sighed. His phone chimed. Dusa had sent him a message.

4:30 AM

snake-charm: [LINK “I Won’t Say I’m In Love” HERCULES]

snake-charm: 😜

Zag dismissed the notification. He put his phone beneath his pillow. He pulled the covers up. He had to get up at 6:00. He should try to sleep.

He hadn’t slept in two days. He’d barely eaten. His main source of energy was an energy drink every four hours or so. He was running low on energy drinks. He should go get some more.

He should go to sleep.

The silence was suffocating. He threw the covers off and ran his hands over his face. He got out of bed. He threw on some clothes. He decided to go to the 24 hour gas station.

Once outside, he breathed in the cool night air. The inside of the dorm felt so stuffy, full of thoughts he’d rather not linger on for longer than he had to. He breathed deeply, allowing his mind to clear. 

The cool night air bit lightly at his cheeks and nose, but he didn’t mind it too much. Nature had always been his remedy, and while the middle of the city wasn’t exactly nature, just being outside revitalized him in a way he hadn’t expected. As he walked, he listened to music, allowing his imagination to wander. The city really was so pretty at night. He was hit with a wave of gratitude to his past self, for managing to get him here.

His reverie was broken by the appearance of the gas station, still lit at 4:45 AM, the only lit building near campus. He stood for a while, thoughts focusing lightly on Hypnos and other late night food runs, always managing to skirt around the kind of thoughts that had pushed him out here in the first place.

Zag walked in, noting with a frown that the door felt heavier than usual. The trek to the back of the store felt longer than usual, too. He dismissed it as he perused their selection of energy drinks. They didn’t have the one he liked, but that was okay. He’d just take a couple of Monsters or something, and go get the one he liked in the morning proper.

That was the last thing he remembered.

When he woke up, it was to a continuous beeping sound. A hospital. He suddenly remembered he had an essay due in two days about a story that took place partly in a hospital. He woke up more and realized that  _ he  _ was the one in the hospital. 

Shit.

His friends were  _ definitely _ going to be upset with him. 

Speaking of his friends…

He looked to his right, and Hypnos was there, asleep in a chair next to the bed with his hand holding Zag’s and his head on Zag’s arm. When Zag moved his head, Hypnos stirred, blinking awake in a manner that caused a burst of fondness in Zag’s chest. When he noticed Zag was awake, he shot up, straightening in his chair and staring for a couple of seconds before flushing slightly and removing his hand from Zag’s.

Zag kind of wished Hypnos hadn’t done that. The hand holding was nice. He vaguely hoped they could do it more often.

“Zag! You’re awake!” Hypnos whispered excitedly, eyes red and voice hoarse in a way that made it sound like… he’d been crying. “How are you feeling?”

“Confused.” Zag replied, wincing as his head suddenly felt like it was going to split open. He took a deep breath in. “Can you ask someone for some painkillers or something? My head feels like shit.”

Hypnos cleared his throat and nodded. “Y-yeah, they uh… they didn’t want to give you anything until you woke up. I told them that you weren’t allergic to anything but they wanted to make sure. You know those doctors!” He smiled as he attempted some sort of laugh. “Your mom should be here soon, I’ll just go and find a nurse.”

“No, don’t leave.” Zag murmured absentmindedly. “I want you here.”

Hypnos hovered indecisively for a moment before standing up. His smile cracked and his eyes began to water as he said, “Sorry I- I have to go.” and all but fled the room.

A nurse appeared at some point, asking him if he had any allergies to medicines, and he shook his head. They returned some point after that with ibuprofen and a little cup of water. Surprisingly, he wasn’t thirsty. He remarked on this to Meg later, who said something about saline. Dusa was there at some point. She showed him videos and tried to explain more about saline. Than made an appearance, giving a lecture on how he should take care of himself and informing him that he’d collapsed of dehydration and malnourishment. Zag cringed at that. He was going to forever be known as the “Gas Station Guy” after this, he just knew it.

Then, his mom was there.

When she arrived, a doctor called her out and talked to her. Zag watched as she nodded, her expression changing minutely with each new piece of information given to her. Then she headed in, and sat in the chair next to his bed. She pet his head and told him, “You have to take better care of yourself.”

He huffed and said, “I know, I know.”

She sighed and smiled tiredly at him. “So what did Hypnos tell you earlier?”

“Nothing, actually. Was he supposed to tell me something? Wait, how did you know he was here earlier?”

Persephone continued stroking his head. “Why don’t you take a nap?”

He did take a nap. The hospital seemed removed from time. When he woke up, alone, he asked what time it was. Two days. He’d been in the hospital for two days.

He had missed  _ so much _ work.

In total, Zag spent about a week in the hospital. No one told him what happened, or why it required such a long hospital stay, but after all the tests and exams that prematurely made his wallet hurt, he was released.

Hypnos hadn’t come to visit him since he’d woken up.

And that kinda stung. Zag had been hopeful for a while there that maybe Hypnos returned his affections, but considering he hadn’t come to visit him in the hospital, that seemed less likely than before. He felt vaguely miffed that he’d had the whole awkward conversation with Than for nothing.

He refused to think about any words starting with l and rhyming with dove.

If he just didn’t think about it, it wouldn’t hurt so bad. Right?

Either way, the work kept him busy. He stayed in his room the week after that, sending emails and finishing essays and taking midterms and parsing through notes. Than would bring him food and watch him take the new medicines the doctor had assigned him. Zag had looked up the prescriptions at some point, and was surprised to find that he’d been given an anti-migaine medicine. He never had much trouble with migraines, so it was kind of weird.

There was a persistent feeling in his gut that he hadn’t been told everything,

Hypnos didn’t visit that week either.

Annoyed, Zag asked Than what was up, but Than just looked at him and said, “The two of you need to communicate better.”

So Zag endeavored to communicate better. He called Hypnos three times in a row, but it went straight to voicemail all three times. He had the urge to cry when the third “Hey! This is Hypnos! I’d say leave a message after the tone but we both know I’m not going to listen to it!” sounded out, but instead he went the text route instead.

3:24 PM

govtassignedcatboy: Hypnos?

govtassignedcatboy: Whats wrong?

govtassignedcatboy: It’s been two weeks since I last saw you

govtassignedcatboy: I miss you

The last message felt too close to… something, but Zag decided to leave it be. Anyone would miss their friend after two weeks, right? Especially when they’d seen them basically every day before. 

He didn’t expect an answer, so he put his phone on his desk and went to stare outside his window. He kind of missed going outside.

He missed a lot of things, it seemed.

When he checked his phone, he noticed a notification.

3:36 PM

hypnos-tized: meet me at the Starbucks inside bnn

Zag read the message a couple of times, then immediately burst into action, changing his clothes, brushing his hair, and generally making himself look presentable. He wanted to look nice for Hypnos.

When he arrived at the Barnes and Noble him and Hypnos liked to frequent, he quickly went up to the second floor Starbucks, full of anxious energy. There, sitting at a table sipping something out of a large coffee cup, was Hypnos. He looked…  _ horrible _ . His eye bags seemed worse than ever, the dark circles so dark his eyes looked bruised, and his eyes themselves were red. His skin was splotchy, and while it was usually clear because of his meticulous upkeep, it was marred by breakouts.

Zag had the distinct urge to take Hypnos into his arms and kiss all of his problems away. Instead, he shook his head and went to sit down across from him. Now was really not the time.

Hypnos didn’t say anything for a while. They sat in an awkward silence, occasionally broken by Hypnos placing his cup down.

“Can we go outside?” Hypnos asked, voice unsteady.

Zag frowned and said, “Yeah, sure.”

The night was warmer than the last time he’d been outside past 6 PM, but it was still nice to walk around in. The two of them strolled through the shopping center and past the aquarium, which was beginning to sell its last tickets of the day.

“Do you want to go look at the fish?” Zag asked. He’d always wanted to take Hypnos on a date to the aquarium but could never just work up the nerve to ask.

“Did you know that I’m your 100-mile contact?” Hypnos asked in response.

“Oh. Yeah. Didn’t we set each other as our 100-mile contacts for a joke a month ago?”

“I was the first person they called when you…” Hypnos paused for a moment. “Passed out.”

Zag stopped with him, and paused to consider his next answer. “I’m glad for that. There’s no one else I’d rather them have called.”

Hypnos made a sound of distress. “Yes but you… it wasn’t just dehydration and malnutrition, you know. You were so fucked up that you had a seizure and then you stopped breathing and your heart stopped beating and I ran into the hospital and they were doing cpr on you and I thought…” He began to cry. “I thought you were dead, Zagreus. I thought you were going to die and there was nothing I could do to stop it. All I could do was watch and hope that somehow you’d make it through.”

He cried harder, and Zag finally gave in to the need to hug him. Zag pulled Hypnos close and rubbed his back as he murmured “I’m here, I’m here, I’m okay” over and over again into his shoulder. 

Finally, his tears slowed, and Hypnos pulled Zag into a tight embrace. 

“Please don’t do that again.” He whispered, and Zag, heart in his throat, nodded, rubbing his cheek against Hypnos’ as he did so.

“Promise.” Zag breathed out.

After a while, the two of them pulled apart and just stared at each other.

“Dusa thinks we’d make a cute couple,” Zag began at the same time Hypnos blurted something out, then stopped. This was really not the time or the place and they just had this whole heart-to-heart and

And

And

Wait, what had Hypnos said?

“What did you say, mate?” Zag asked.

“I  _ said _ , I’m in love with you, dork.” Hypnos replied, eyes twinkling.

Zag let out a small  _ hmm,  _ then responded, “I’m in lo-love with you too.” After a couple of seconds, he added, “Do you want to go to the aquarium? As a- as a, date?”

Hypnos laughed and said, “Okay, but you’re paying. It’s my revenge for what you put me through.”

**Author's Note:**

> twitter is @books_n_stuff19 tumblr is chashisabadasswitch


End file.
